Oil leaks
 

So, last night I got under the FD and removed all the intake piping because one of the turbo oil lines was leaking a little oil. I was hoping I would find a loose bolt on one of the oil return lines under the turbos. Instead, I think I really have:

1) primary turbo blows just enough oil to seep out the intake gaskets back onto the turbos

2) oil pan gasket that beginning to leak (Mazda reman, about 20k old)

3) leaking input shaft seal on the tranny (I rebuilt it 2 years ago)

4) oil drip from oil pan drain plug.

Oh, joy. None of these will be cheap or easy except #4. I just wanted to gripe.

Dave

Hey Dave,

Just pulled my 101k/11year old reman and noticed some similarities:

1) Oil seepage and migration from the primary turbo inlet area. This may be from the oil injectors as I think they are the original (161k) ones. Turbo's, which still work great, are at around 130k; not much leakage downstream of the compressor, nor did they smoke.

2) Oil pan gasket seeps but does not drip.

3) Rear main seal started leaking about 30k miles ago; this is the most annoying leak. Should have changed it when I replaced the clutch fork 5 years ago. (Tranny input seal is original 161k and no sign of leakage--this may be related to the type of oil i'm running--standard Dino.)

I am considering o-ring seals for the problematic flanges to reduce seepage over time and the subsequent mess.

Dave, that too bad. I wonder whats up with all those leaks. Like #3?

I have oil leak somewhere above turbo - I can see oil comind down between 2 exhaust ports. Without removing intake piping I can't see anything from the top. Oil lines look good.

I decided to wait until winter and then tackle it.

My low mile Reman was leaking from the oil pan and the front cover gasket. Oil leaks suck!

It appears that right now I'm getting just a couple drips overnight, and based on my time in the garage that's just from the oil drain plug.

The other leaks are just slow seeps that collect dirt/grime without dripping. I don't mind a little oil grime; I just don't want to fail tech at the FATT event next friday or any other events. With a new oil drain washer it should all be fine, but as you know nothing seems to be quite that simple.

Dave

I have an oil leak also I am in the process of tracking it down but from what ive seen its the oil pan, but I will degrease and be certain of it.

We re-seal every reman we install because they ALL leak in time if not out of the box. It amazes me that after 15 years Mazda still cannot learn to properly seal the oil pan. I guess they just don't care. Don't use the gasket. Paper gaskets and oil just don't work well. The input shaft seal is a pretty rare leak on these cars. Sure its not the rear main seal?

If the only "real" leak is the drain plug, you should consider yourself among the elite ;)